


The End

by a_seaof_wonders



Category: Frozen (2013), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, And all that jazz, Angst, Death, F/M, Genderbending, Gore, Heartbreak, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, it barely gets better
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-11-08 04:14:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11073849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_seaof_wonders/pseuds/a_seaof_wonders
Summary: Rays of sunlight crept through the many holes that littered a thick blanket that had been nailed to the window, illuminating the inside of the grounded plane faintly. An indication that another night went by without disaster. Deep teal eyes opened slowly, looking around the plane instinctively searching for the other two forms that lay on the other side of the small structure.





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the major works or their characters tagged above, but boy if I did

Rays of sunlight crept through the many holes that littered a thick blanket that had been nailed to the window, illuminating the inside of the grounded plane faintly. An indication that another night went by without disaster. Deep teal eyes opened slowly, looking around the plane instinctively searching for the other two forms that lay on the other side of the small structure.

A wave of relief washed over Anders as he confirmed that his brother and sister in law were still unharmed. The past few months had been full of running and unimaginable dread as the world as they knew it rapidly began to fall apart.

It all began in late August with a strange story on the news. Anders could remember coming home from his first week in college to Jacklyn and Elson intensively staring at the television. Reports of a homeless man attacking a young woman who had been walking home from a bar leaving her with a deadly fever. She was pronounced dead the following day, only to come back and attack the nurses working near the morgue. Shortly after there was a nation wide state of emergency, mass chaos ensued and eventually the military was heavily involved. They began evacuating the major cities, exterminating the infected. They claimed that would be as humane as possible but Anders could still see the walking corpses being slaughtered in the streets with the Army's heaving guns. They had barely left the city before the Air Force began dropping bombs. He could only watch as his hometown was blown to pieces.

After that they tried to find refuge, something that proved very difficult when people began to realize the world was ending. There was mass panic and it became every man for himself. They were lucky enough to find this grounded plane left unattended. They quickly gathered as much resources as they could and began to make their shelter as safe as possible.  
Elson had stressed that they could never truly be safe and so once the sun was set there was to be no lights whats so ever. No light, no noise, and no leaving the plane alone. Except there was only three of them and someone had to watch the plane. Anders being the youngest, only eighteen, was often left to stay out in the aircraft while Elson and Jacklyn went to gather whatever it was they needed. In the back of his mind sanders knew seldom just wanted to protect him, but he couldn't expect everything to just be okay now.  
Anders slowly sat up, keeping his eyes on the other two and making sure his movements didn't wake them. His brother had always been a light sleeper, especially now with everything that's happened.  
Carefully, the young man stood and moved to one of the many windows, all of which were covered with thick blankets or towels. Anything they could find that could block dim candle light. He pulled the dark green cloth just slightly to peek outside the plane, exhaling in relief when he saw no sign of the living dead.

"What are you doing?" a voice whispered. So much for not waking his brother. Anders looked over to see Elson propped on his elbow, dark circles around his eyes and disheveled blond hair. A full eight hours of sleep was becoming something of the past. Now they tried to sleep in shifts, obviously they failed to do that last night.

"Just keeping watch," Anders claimed. In truth, he missed the outside. Elson refused to let him outside for very long, fearing his younger brother would wander off and get himself killed.

"We're fine, just go back to sleep, Elson whispered. His movements were limited because of the sleeping form using his chest as a pillow. His wife slept peacefully against him. Disturbing her was the last thing he wanted to do.

"I'm okay with keeping watch, honestly. Besides I'm not tired anymore," Anders said, trying to keep his voice quiet. Elson knew his brother was just fishing for an excuse to get a taste of the outside. But things were different now and he didn't think Anders could make it outside. Harsh, but true. Even as a child the redhead refused to kill the little spiders he found in the house. How was he going to defend himself against a corpse?  
Elson sighed, laying back down on the hard floor where they had been sleeping. Sometimes he missed his king sized bed. The floor was far from comfortable, especially since pillows were never a concern when they went on runs. As much as he would have lived to fall back asleep there was no way he was going to leave Anders unsupervised.

"Get out of the window," Elson groaned. The last thing they needed was an attack. They were running low on ammo and the weapons they had that didn't require ammunition was a metal bat the sanders had used when he played on the high school baseball team and an axe with a near broken handle. Something that happened when Jacklyn swung too hard at a corpse, hitting he tree beside them and splintering the wood. Elson shuddered at the memory. It had been close and he almost lost her. Luckily he had the hunting knife his father gave to him many years ago and was able to take the corpse out himself.  
Anders glanced outside one more time before carefully moving the cloth back in place. He quietly made his way back to his pallet on the floor and sat on the many blankets. He ran a hand through his light copper hair and closed his eyes. It had felt like years since he had seen another living person besides his brother and his wife. They had been holed up here for nearly three weeks, waiting for a sign that everything would go back to normal. The first attack was nearly two months ago. Anders had been keeping track of the date, watching the time on his wristwatch. Someone had to keep time, to not the days the slowly crawled by.


	2. Wanderlust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter. I had planned on being more punctual but life happened. Anyway, here's chapter two. Feel free to leave comment or suggestions, I'm open to any kind of feedback. Just don't be too harsh I'm still trying to figure this whole fanfiction thing out x3

“We need more guns, Elson,” Jacklyn argued, bending to grab her backpack and axe. She had planned to go into the nearby town to scavenge for anything useful, like guns for instance. She wasn’t surprised that her husband was more than reluctant to let her go.  
      
“We agreed not to leave the airport, we can’t risk it,” Elson said, “besides we already made a run yesterday.”  
      
“So we should just wait for a herd of them to come and rip us to pieces?” Jacklyn rolled her eyes and pulled her chocolate locks into a tight ponytail. She moved towards the entrance of the plane, not waiting for permission to leave. She knew he meant well, but they wouldn’t be able to survive like this. They needed an escape plan, they needed weapons. All they had was a car riding on half a tank of gas and twelve bullets.  
      
“Jackie wait,” Elson walked after her, grabbing his bag off one of the seats and throwing it over his shoulder. There was no way he’d let her go alone. He looked back at Anders who had busied himself with one of the books he had grabbed out of his room before they left home.  
      
“Anders, stay here. Don’t open the door for anything okay?” Elson said. Anders wanted to roll his eyes but it would only agitate the older man.  
      
“And if I hear anything, grab the bat and stay quiet. I know,” he finished. He’ll never understand his brother’s logic of leaving him here alone. Wasn’t it just as if not more dangerous than it would be if he went with them? Elson gave him a “don’t be a smart ass,” look before leaving behind Jackie. Once the door was shut Anders jumped over to the window, watching the car roll out and disappear. He quickly moved to tug on his shoes and grabbing the metal bat that was propped on the wall near where he slept and his backpack. He then moved to open the door of the plane, the sunlight hitting him and warming his skin.  
    It wasn’t the first time he had snuck out, he had done this many times. He just needed some fresh air and some sunlight. He stepped down from the stairs that ascended from the plane, his feet coming to rest on the pavement below. He looked around, seeing no sign of anything except scattered aircraft and the main building of the airport. Surprisingly, this place seemed untouched by the undead. Air transportation ceased within three days of the first attack. The outbreak had spread like wildfire ripping through dry grass. Everyone seemed to pack up and make their own way across the nation.  
    Noting that it was safe to proceed, Anders began making his way to the field left of the airport, where he knew there would be a stretch of highway.      
The air outside was cool, days were slipping into the fall of October. Days were becoming shorter and nights were getting colder. But, with the sun high in the sky it warmed the redhead to a comfortable temperature. It would have been a beautiful day for a walk in the park or a bike ride down main street.  
He swung to carry the bat against his shoulder, his eyes searching the area in front of him. He had experienced very little encounters with the undead, but he knew they had just been careful. He knew better than to let his guard down. His ears were highly in tune to the wind rustling the grassy field, moving his copper hair that beamed like fire in the sunlight.  
Eventually he made his way through the small field, reaching the stretch of highway. A lot of cars had been left abandoned. Some still had doors left open from someone who left in a hurry. Others were neatly parked as if they might have ran out of gas and so were left the sit. Anders kept his distance, not wanting to wake a resting corpse even though he saw no sign of one. He vaguely wondered if someone had left anything useful.   
He carefully checked a parked Kia, the passenger door left open. He peered in, making sure there was nothing inside that would jump at him. Inside he could see several blankets and a few canned food items. He glanced around before bending to grab them and quickly throwing them in his bag. He straightened, gently closing the door. His eyes fell on dark spots that splattered the red paint of the vehicle. He swallowed hard, noting the dried blood and quickly began moving away.   
He checked several other cars, hoping to come across something much more useful like a gun. The only weapon he found was a machete with a bowie blade that had been tucked under the passenger seat of an old pickup truck. Why anyone would leave that was astounding considering the situation. Anders took it nonetheless, sliding it into his backpack carefully. He had also managed to grab a few more canned goods and some Tylenol. He wasn’t sure if they’d need it but any medication was good to have in case of something serious.  
With the sun falling, Anders knew he should be heading back. Gripping his bat tightly he turned back toward the airport, his feet picking up their pace slightly. They were more active at night, it seemed. And besides, Elson and Jacklyn should be back soon.   
A soft shuffling immediately got his attention. Anders whipped his head around to see a corpse, seemingly unaware of his presence, moving about slowly around the scattered automobiles. Anders wasted no time quietly moving out of sight as quickly as he could without attracting its attention. His heart was pounding against his chest. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he could outrun this thing. All four years of high school he was involved with several sports that kept him fit, like baseball and cross country. But fear had taken ahold of him and left him scatterbrained. In the midst of turning his head to make sure the threat was still unaware of him he tripped over his feet, his bat banging against the pavement. The sound of metal against concrete echoed and he could hear the gurgled groan of the corpse and the shuffle of its clumsy feet move towards him.  
The redhead snatched his bat and sprung up, his hip aching from how he landed. He broke into a full sprint, not daring to look back in fear of falling again. He could hear its snarling grow quieter as the distance of him and the undead being grew. Luckily these things weren’t very fast, but he knew he’d have to lead it in a direction away from their sanctuary. He turned left, looking back briefly to see it still behind him. Its grotesque face watching him with foggy eyes.

“Shit,” Anders said under his breath. He ran faster, his legs pumping beneath him. Unfortunately this thing could just barely keep up with him. He briefly considered turning to bash its head in. But he couldn’t risk freezing up and letting this thing catch him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to make himself beat the man’s skull in. He used to be a living person at one point. As foolish as it was, Anders still held onto that thought even if he knew that the corpse just wanted to eat him.  
So, he made a break for the field, running parallel to the airport, leading it in a different direction. His lungs were working hard to keep him from losing his breath, his legs pulsed. As luck would have it, a rock having no business being in his path, sent the ginger flying as his foot caught it. His bat sailing a good three feet away. Anders smacked his head against the ground, his vision blurring for a moment before he could come back to his senses. His stomach dropped when his brain finally processed the footsteps, the snarling. The mass of rotting flesh was inching closer and he couldn’t find his bat. He moved to stand, his head pounding. The world seemed to tilt but it didn’t stop him from moving away from the corpse. In the midst of a dizzying head rush he fell back to the ground, crawling away when he looked up to see the undead man reaching for him.

“No,” Anders groaned, making a final attempt to move away before closing his eyes and accepting his fate. How pathetic? It’s only going to take a single corpse to take him out because he was too stupid to listen to his brother.   
Anders waited for hands to grab and rip him apart, but all he heard was a soft thunk as the corpse dropped to the ground, an arrow through its head and its eyes still wide open. All movement from it had ceased. Anders looked around, not realizing that he was breathing erratically. Out of the tall grass a good sized dog leapt out, pouncing on the red head with a snarl before realizing that he wasn’t the threat. Anders was beyond confused until he heard a feminine voice call out.

“Sven, heal!” The dog’s ears perked up, his head turning in the direction of his voice. Anders watched as a living person moved into his view, a crossbow in her arms. Her brown eyes met his teal ones and searched for any sign of injury.

“Are you okay?” she asked. Anders couldn’t form words, he just nodded his head only to wince in pain at the movement.

“I would have stepped in sooner but I thought you could handle it, that is until you tripped for the second time. You’re not very graceful are you?” she questioned. It took him a moment to find his voice, partly because of the head injury. He also just couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Her brown eyes were almost amber in the sunlight, her skin was fair with a clear complexion aside from the few faint freckles that dance across her nose. She was also on the short side, her head would fit perfectly under his chin if he were to wrap his arms around her.  
Anders had seen beautiful girls before, he held their hands and kissed their cheeks at school dances or at the movies. But, she was different. The was something about her that he felt pulling him in and leaving him light headed. But, that could just be because the ground is way harder than he anticipated.

“I-I’m normally not so clumsy,” he muttered. The woman moved to offer him a hand, he hesitantly took it allowing her to help him to his feet. He shakily wiped the dirt from his clothes, his body still ringing with adrenaline.

“Why didn’t you just kill it?” she asked. Anders looked up, her deep eyes searched him for an answer. Her honey blonde hair was pulled into a loose bun, her bangs left out to grace over her eyebrows.

“All I had was a bat,” he mumbled. She looked at him with concern, her eyebrows furrowed and eyes carefully watching him.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Anders,” he said. She smiled.

“Well, Anders, I think you might have a concussion. Any idea where you came from?” she chuckled. Why was she laughing? Wasn’t a concussion serious? He searched his brain for an answer but all he could do was turn to look in the direction of the plane. He could faintly see the airport from where he was standing.

“I was in a..” the word left him.

“Okay.. Well, my name’s Krista and this is Sven,” she gestured down to the medium sized dog who healed by her feet. His tongue was out in a pant, his eyes keeping watch for anything that threatened his owner. 

“We’re going to help you back to where you came from. Can you point in the direction of where that might be?” she asked.

“That way,” Anders pointed towards the plane. Krista nodded, slinging her bow over her shoulder and gently grabbing his arm to lead him in that direction.

“My bat,” he muttered. He couldn’t lose that, it was his only means of defense. Even though it didn’t help him at all just a few minutes ago.

“Sven, fetch,” Krista commanded, the dog happily bolted towards the bat. He quickly returned with it in his jaws. Krista took the bat a carried it in her opposite hand, slowly leading the peculiar man in the direction he had pointed.


End file.
